Foreign donors are so discouraged with Zimbabwe that it attracted just $ 4 in outside aid for every person with AIDS in 2004 compared to $74 on average in the South African region as a whole, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland said. Zimbabwe is one of a number of African countries suffering from the triple threat of soaring AIDS cases, drought and ?weak or bad governance,? Egeland said after briefing the UN Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Africa.

But a lack of dialogue between the government of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and potential donors was also to blame for the country?s poor showing in AIDS funding as well as persistent food shortages, he said.Danish Ambassador Ellen Loj proposed that council members approve an informal statement expressing concern about the situation in Zimbabwe but that was blocked when China and Algeria objected, diplomats said.

The two countries argued that Zimbabwe?s problem was a humanitarian crisis that did not belong on the agenda of the Security Council, which deals with international peace and security, said the diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Zimbabwe was once a breadbasket for Africa but its economy has virtually collapsed during the last six years.